Massive Dualities in Six Dimensions

TL;DR

This paper explores dualities in six-dimensional string and M-theory compactifications with background fluxes, deriving new duality rules, extending known symmetries, and discovering novel massive brane solutions.

Contribution

It derives the S- and T-duality rules for massive supergravity theories in six dimensions and generalizes the 6D string-string S-duality to include mass parameters in new representations.

Findings

Derived massive T-duality rules for Type IIA/IIB on K3.

Extended 6D S-duality to massive case with new mass parameter representations.

Found new massive brane solutions related to the mass parameters.

Abstract

We study compactifications of string theory and M-theory to six dimensions with background fluxes. The nonzero fluxes lead to additional mass parameters. We derive the S- and T-duality rules for the corresponding (massive) supergravity theories. Specifically, we investigate the massive T-duality between Type IIA superstring theory compactified on K3 with background fluxes and Type IIB superstring theory compactified on K3. Furthermore, we generalise to the massive case the 6D 'string-string' S-duality between M-theory on K3 x S^1 and the Heterotic String on T^4. Whereas in the case of massive T--duality the mass parameters are in the fundamental representation of the U-duality group O(4,20) we find that in the case of massive S-duality they are in the 3-index antisymmetric representation. In the latter case the mass parameters involved extend those of Kaloper and Myers. We apply our duality rules to massive brane solutions, like the domain wall solutions corresponding to the mass parameters and find new massive brane solutions. Finally, we discuss the higher-dimensional interpretation of the dualities and brane solutions.